Tag: dates

Jebel Shams plus goodbye Oman

Jebel Shams coffee shop

I apologize in advance for the long post. I know its long but I just wanted to sum up the end of my trip to Oman in one more post. I am very glad I made the time to visit.

Nizwa

We start the morning with breakfast then a morning walk around the town of Nizwa. We learn the history of the town and we admire the architecture which is a mix of old abandoned buildings, some made of mud and such, and the nicely restored historic buildings.

We head to the souq and are given a tour of the different parts of the souq. We have free time to shop afterwards. I only buy a couple things but I do taste many different types of dates at the date souq. I eye the tahini making machine and a gentleman working the shop gives me a warm sample of the freshly made tahini. Being so very good I am tempted to buy a jar to take with me but I still have a couple weeks left for my travels so it is not a practical idea. I go into an air conditioned building with the upstairs “antique market”. I am disappointed because there are no antiques here, just junk I can get in the USA or other countries. I do enjoy a pistachio coffee from the shop upstairs though.

I ate camel

We stop at the home of a bee farmer where we are fed a nice home cooked meal. We actually get to try camel today. It is quite good, especially how it is seasoned with a beef like flavor. It’s funny how I will no longer ride animals like camels but I am still eating them. I keep saying one day I will break down and become a vegetarian – but today is not that day. We are also taught how to eat like an Omani – on the floor, with our right hand.

We are then served coffee, thyme tea with honey, more dates and fruit. I am very full after this meal. I try a date covered in tahini and sesame.

We head to town to visit his honey shop but only after having a nice nice nature walk.

Jebel Shams

We make our way to Jebel Shams where we are staying the night. This area is known for its Grand Canyon. Impressive on its own, it isn’t as big as the Grand Canyon in the USA, but still very nice to look at. We head from there to watch the sunset over some mountains. It is noticeably cooler here. In the evening a jacket is needed. I even stole the comforter to use off the other bed in my room to stay warm in the evening.

Lodging in Jebel Shams

After dinner most of us call it an early night.

The next morning we meet for a hike along the side of the canyon. We only go a small portion of the 7 km trail but it is nice and we see great views.

We then take a very rocky road down into a valley that tests the limits of our 4×4 automobiles. Amazing views appear around every corner. We eventually get to the bottom and visit another small town. We take a short walk around. This area is called Wadi Bani Awf.

We have bought another picnic lunch and head outside a nearby snake gorge to eat. We have a few minutes to explore the path before we leave. We don’t have too much time so we don’t go very far ahead. I have of course seen things like this before but it doesn’t make these canyons less fascinating to me. I wish we had more time here.

Cave

We head back to muscat where many of us say goodbye. Some of us have one last dinner. I make my final goodbyes and go back to prepare for my 2:00 AM pickup for the airport. I am off to another country. My last before returning to the USA soon.

I couldn’t resist a Zatar croissant at the airport

Ras al Jinz

Ras al Jinz hotel view at sunset

We leave the city of Muscat Oman today in three comfortable Toyota SUVs along the coast of Oman. Our final destination is Ras al Jinz, famous for its Green Sea Turtle nests but we have some stops along the way.

First stop is at a sinkhole – Bimmah Sinkhole. I have many sinkholes back home so I am familiar with the concept but I guess they are rare here and this one is close to the ocean. It is formed from a depression or collapse of the limestone. A lake of sorts has formed and the sea water mixes with fresh water. The water level changes with the tides. It is a refreshing place to dip your feet in the water, or swim as we saw others do. Just a warning that your toes might be fish food. I had many little fish nibbling on my toes as I walked in.

Next stop is to the village of Wadi Tiwi (We kept hearing it pronounced Waditouille like the movie with the cooking rat). Our guide and one of our other drivers is from this area. Even though we are close to the coast it is desert-like. Wadi Tiwi is very green since it is in the valley between the mountains. We are in a very charming village with lots of fruit trees; in fact the big crop here is dates. We visit a date farm and talk with the farmer about his farming practices. Our guide shows us how they sometimes have to manually pollinate the dates because there are not enough pollinators. They talk about how all of the date tree is used. Some of the mesh like material is used to make rope; we are given a demonstration. The branches and palm leaves themselves are used to build shelter to hide from the harsh sun. Afterward they give us some Omani tea and some thin samosas for a snack; I especially enjoy the cheese ones. We take a long walk down hill to see the town at a slower pace. As we walk many SUV loads of children passed us by. They are coming home from school. Instead of school buses, they travel in style by SUV.

We eventually get to our destination for the evening. If you remember I wasn’t too happy with our last hotel. Apparently neither was any of my travel companions. In fact, of my not so great room it appears I had the best of the rooms. We are all very curious about our next hotel choice. We are pleasantly surprised when we end up at a seaside resort. It is nice and clean. We are on the beach and there is a nice pool to take a dip. The rooms are designed like shacks but inside are decorated like comfortable tents. We are all very pleased with this hotel choice.

Fun seating for restaurant
I got to try all the desserts
Puffer fish disaster

We get a break and some of us sneak off to take a dip in the ocean. There are loads of dead puffer fish on the beach and floating in the water; no other fish but the puffer fish. We all blow it off and get in the water anyway. It seems to be fine.

We meet for a nice dinner buffet at the hotel and then we are off to see nesting sea turtles. It is not always guaranteed a turtle will be nesting but we try our luck anyway. It is a popular night and there is a large crowd waiting already. They only let a few observe at a time when the female is laying eggs so we have a very long wait ahead of us. Finally around 10:00 PM our group is called and we head out what seems about 1km toward the sea (hard to tell the distance for sure since I am very tired at this point). I almost regret coming because the wait is so long. When I finally see the large turtle I am glad I came.

She has already laid all her eggs for the evening and now is covering up the holes and creating the diversion holes. More people can observe her now since the tricky part is done. She seems tired. It seems like a good amount of work to bury those eggs.

After we see a newly hatched turtle. It follows the guides light into the ocean. They tell us that only 2-3 baby turtles of 1000 eggs actually make it. There are so many predators and some get confused and cannot find their way to the ocean.

I am so incredibly tired by the time we finally make the walk back to the visitor center. I felt almost like I am sleep walking back. The moon is full so our path is well lit. It seems like the center never gets closer until it finally does. When I arrive I realize that half our group was split up into another group that is still out observing. I am sad we still need to wait around for them.

I can already tell tomorrow is going to be tough because I am not getting a full night sleep tonight. I hope I don’t regret this turtle outing.